11 homes in Fort Mill damaged by flooding

By Trent Faris - bio l email

FORT MILL, SC (WBTV) - People living in the Cascade Townhouses near Fort Mill, wake up to find out not only are their homes on the water, they're under it too.

It's calm now but according to folks that live here, the water was waist deep around 2 a.m.

"I don't think any of us realize here thought we'd have this kind of damage when we woke up in the morning," said home owner Eric Sabach.

Sabach could only look on at the power of the water that caused damage to his house last night.

"Up through the door looks like it's come through the wall," Sabach said about how the water damaged his kitchen and living room floors.

He and 10 of his neighbors looked outside early Monday morning and saw a four foot deep river flowing through their back yards with water coming right up to their back doors.

"Pouring up and over and cascading right into these houses including mine," said Robert Dorso.

Dorso says the levy for the flood plain just a few feet behind the homes couldn't hold the rain water.

"This pond behind the townhomes are usually two little streams of a protected wet land along Jones branch.   Now all of the water is flowing into just a small 18 inch storm drain.

All of the water forced its way through the drain tube causing enough pressure to pop off the manhole cover on the drain pipe.

Home owner Leon Dennison has a geyser shooting water skyward in his back yard.

Dennison says he use to work in the home construction business and believes when the homes were built more steps should have been taken to prevent flooding like this.

"There should have been more drainage at either a higher level in the dam behind us or a spill way to take that over flow," said Dennison.

Dorso feels if someone doesn't fix the levy before the spring his house will get flooded out again.

"There's nothing that can stop it other than having that fixed out there having that water drain out," said Dorso.

As for the 11 homes with water damage some have insurance others don't.  Water restoration workers have worked all day trying to dry the people out.